ROMANCE: Romantic Comedy: Love in 30 Days - The Best Plans Don't Always Work! (Plus 19 FREE Books Book 13)

by Jane Keeler

  When they got onto the plane she sat back and reached out to take Harold’s hand. She squeezed it but he didn’t squeeze it back. She could see that he was a million miles away and that the thought of going back home depressed him. She knew that he had not planned to go back for a very long time. She wanted to speak more to him about his father, but she didn’t want to make him sad, so instead she decided to probe about his brother.

  “So, are you excited to see your brother again? You haven’t seen in in what, ten years?”

  “Hmmf.” Came the reply which she knew was the signal that he didn’t want to talk about it. So she leaned back and closed her eyes, wondering instead what his brother was going to be like. She didn’t want to tell him how excited she was that she was finally going to meet a part of his family. In all the time that they had been married she had never once met his family, and she’d been upset that Harold hadn’t even bothered to invite them to the wedding. She knew that this was one of the reasons that her mother had not liked Harold, because family had always been so important to her. Over the years she had tried to get him to open up to her and to tell her why he disliked them so much but he had remained quite tight lipped, telling her only that they were different to him. She didn’t have the best hope of getting on with his brother, but she was certainly interested to meet him and to see the place in which Harold had grown up. He hadn’t wanted her to come with but she had insisted and he had finally given in to her pleas.

  When they landed they organized a cab to take them straight to the island. Normally, Harold told her, they would’ve taken a bus, but because it was so late in the evening already they had to find another way of getting there. “I’ll be honest though,” he told her confidentially, “I’m quite glad we had to take a cab. I used to hate those bus rides. No air-conditioning. People standing and talking loudly even though they are all right next to each other. The driver riding so fast you wonder how he ever got his license. No thank you!” Harold was in such a bad mood that Alison chose to rather not say anything at all, and to simply nod to everything that he complained about as if she agreed with him.

  It was dark when they arrived and Alison walked with Harold to the house and waited while he knocked on the door. She had never seen Harold look so downtrodden and she was starting to worry that the place was as horrible as he always told her. The door opened and a gorgeous young man opened the door. Alison knew immediately that it was Harold’s brother. That dimpled smile obviously ran prominent in the Baxter family.

  “Harold!” he exclaimed and came forward to envelope Harold in a huge bear hug. Harold held onto his bags the whole time so that he did not have to reciprocate it at all.

  “Tristan. Good to see you again.” Harold’s voice was formal and terse. Certainly not the voice of someone who was excited to see his brother again after so many years.

  “Oh, I didn’t know you were coming with someone,” Tristan said, looking at Alison, “Hi, I’m Tristan. It is a pleasure to meet you.” She was just about to thrust out her hand when he came forward to kiss her on both cheeks.

  “Pleasure to meet you too. I’m Alison.”

  “Come in, Come in. Oh dear, I only made up the one room though. I’ll be able to sort something out tomorrow, but it’s quite late now. I wonder, maybe you can take the couch then Harold, and Alison can get the room?”

  “Oh. Uh… no, I’ll just sleep in the room with Harold.” Alison was incredibly confused. Tristan was speaking as if he didn’t know of her existence. As if he hadn’t known that they were married.

  “Oh. Goodness, I’m sorry. Yes of course. Well that works out perfectly then. Wow, Harold, you hit the luck here.” And he slapped Harold on the back. Alison felt immediately at ease around Tristan, who seemed to be incredibly upbeat and happy. I wonder if he’s always like this or if he’s simply putting on a show in front of them. He probably hated Harold just as much as Harold hated him.

  “Well, I’ll leave you all to it then. It’s late and you must be exhausted. Here’s your bedroom. The bathroom is just outside, you can’t miss it. And I’ve left a plate of snacks in case you’re hungry. We can have a proper chat in the morning though. Harold – I still cannot believe you are here. This is crazy!” He walked out, laughing to himself as if he really were happy to see Harold again.

  “He seems nice.” She said to Harold the moment they had closed the door. “Not at all what I had expected though.” Harold said nothing, and the two of them silently got ready for bed and fell asleep the moment their heads hit the pillow.

  The next morning Alison woke to the sun shining through the curtains and pots clambering outside. She looked over at Harold who was awake and already dressed and she mumbled a good morning to him.

  “Good morning Alison. Sorry I was so grumpy yesterday. It’s just weird being back here you know.” He was wearing dark jeans and a collared blue shirt, and while he looked very nice he didn’t look like someone that was on holiday. Which he isn’t, she reminded herself.

  “I totally understand. Give me ten minutes, I just want to have a quick shower. By the sounds of things Tristan is already up.”

  Alison showered and put on a yellow summery dress and flip flops. She had bought the dress the following summer when they had planned to go away for a week to a holiday resort. The plans all got cancelled when Harold got called into an important business meeting and she had packed the dress away for a future holiday. A full year later and she finally had the chance to wear it. After her shower she saw that Harold was not in the room anymore so she went to the kitchen to investigate. She stood for a few minutes watching the two brothers and she felt a pang that the two of them were not closer. Tristan looked to be the complete opposite of Harold. He was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, and now that she was seeing him in the light of the day she could see that he was incredibly tanned from hours spent out in the sun. He was only a few years younger than Harold and yet he looked even younger now that the two of them were sitting together. Alison assumed it was because of the lifestyle that Tristan led compared to Harold’s and, of course, the different clothes they chose to wear. Tristan was in the process of making breakfast and Harold was sitting at the table watching him strangely. She made a small sound and they both turned around and saw her standing there.

  “Alison!” Tristan exclaimed, “I’m glad you could join us. I have bacon and eggs on their way. Sit down, let me pour you some coffee. There’s also juice on the table.”

  “Thank you so much. It smells amazing!” As she sat down she noticed Harold looking at her and she smiled up at him.

  “New dress?” he asked.

  “Oh I got it for our last holiday. That one last year that we couldn’t go to. Didn’t seem like the appropriate dress to wear at home though. It’s more beach than city. It was still in my bag!”

  “Hmm.”

  She wanted to ask him what he meant by that but she didn’t want to have an argument in front of Tristan so she just left it. But she suddenly felt very uncomfortable and wondered if she had worn the wrong thing. Tristan placed the food on the table and told them dig in. Alison and Harold weren’t normally big breakfast people. They always ate on the go, grabbing a muffin or a fruit or anything that they could find and gulping down as much coffee as they could handle. It had been a routine that she had adapted to since being with Harold. Now, she couldn’t believe how much she was enjoying just sitting down and taking the time to eat a full meal and by the end she felt more satisfied than she had in a long time. Harold saw her empty plate.

  “Wow. You were hungry. You ate it all.” His plate had hardly been touched.

  “Yeah, it was delicious.” She felt herself starting to blush, embarrassed at how much she had eaten, but thankfully Tristan spoke up. “I’m glad you liked it. I’m a big fan of starting the day off with a big meal. I don’t know what it is about this place, but I’m always famished.” Then he dished himself up some more and smiled.

  “Okay, so I think today we should en
joy the island. Later, we can talk more serious things. But right now, I want you both to enjoy yourselves. I’d be happy to take you on a tour, if you’d like?”

  “Oh yes, that would be great.” Alison said, looking forward to a day out that didn’t involve spreadsheets and conference calls.

  “No thank you. I’ve seen this place a million times and I doubt much has changed. I have work to do.” Alison felt her face fall, crestfallen at the thought of working. It was only day one.

  “Well then, suit yourself. Help yourself to anything in the fridge. Alison, guess you’ll have to put up with me then! Are you ready to get going now?” Alison looked up in surprise. She had simply thought that if Harold was working that it would mean she would have to stay back herself. She looked to Harold for permission.

  “You gonna be okay here by yourself? Do you mind if I go? I’ll stay in you need me to. But I’d love to go and see the place where you grew up.” She hoped the plea in her voice wasn’t too obvious.

  “Sure Ali. You go. I want to stay and work.”

  “Great!” said Tristan, “that’s settled then. Well, we’ll see you later Harold. But I’d love the chance to catch up with you at some stage. It’s been years. There’s so much to say.”

  Alison noticed that Harold wasn’t looking at them. He just nodded. “Sure.”

  Alison grabbed her bag, threw in a small jacket in case the weather changed and headed out with Tristan. She glanced over at Harold but he had already gotten up and gone back to the room.

  Chapter Three

  “Listen, I’m sorry about last night. I had no idea you were coming! I’m sure you know that Harold and I don’t speak very often. But anyway, it was a wonderful surprise. I know Harold isn’t a huge fan of this place so it’s nice to see a friendly face. So, how long have the two of you been together?”

  Alison and Tristan were down the road and were walking towards the beach. She stopped and looked at him. “What do you mean? We’re married. But surely you know that?”

  It was Tristan’s turn to look surprised. “Married? Whoa. You’d think Harold would have told me something as big as that. Nope. I knew nothing.” The look of surprise on his face had turned to hurt.

  “But you were invited to the wedding. You said you couldn’t come.”

  “What? Who told you that? No, I didn’t know about the wedding. Like I said, I didn’t know about you at all.”

  “That’s… that’s what Harold told me.” Alison’s voice was starting to tremble and she suddenly felt as if she was going to fall.

  “Hey, listen, I’m sure he had his reasons. We haven’t been in touch much and he never did like it here. So maybe he just didn’t want his past coming back to him. I’m sure he only did it because he wanted a new life with you. You can see he loves you.”

  “But why? I mean, what was so bad about this place? I know I’ve only just arrived, but it looks beautiful.” And she wasn’t lying. The town had a certain feeling about it that was hard to ignore – a feeling of freedom and warmth. Perhaps it was the sound of the ocean that seemed to follow you wherever you went, but Alison felt more relaxed than she had been in a very long time.

  “It is beautiful Alison. But I guess Harold just never felt like he belonged here. I think he always resented this place. Always resented my father and I for holding him back. We tried to keep him here. Begged him to stay. But he had big ambitions. He wanted to do the things that you see in the movies that we watched and he knew that he would never be able to do them here. Look, I don’t blame him. Not everyone is cut out for this type of lifestyle. Personally, I love it. I tried moving out before. Went to live in London actually for a few months. I loved the culture. I loved the city. I loved meeting new people and seeing new things. But it took only a few months for me to want to come back here. This is where I belong. I want space and sand and sea. I want simplicity. Harold wants adventure and money – and there is nothing wrong with that. This was just not the place for him. It never has been. And well, you’ll discover yourself whether or not you agree with him. Trust me, within a week you will know if you want to stay here or whether you want to rush back to your old life. Come now. Let’s not get too bogged down with it all. I have so much to show you!”

  Alison considered everything he said, and wondered how she would feel about the place when it was time to leave. She thought about Harold, cooped up in his room on his computer and not wanting to experience the wind on his back and the sand in his feet. She couldn’t understand it. But then again, this was only day one. He had experienced a whole childhood of this. She was going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. But soon, she was going to speak to him and find out why he had felt the need to lie to her.

  Spending time with Tristan was easy and by the end of the day Alison felt completely relaxed in his presence. He had a very comforting way about him and it was easy to see how content he was with his life. Alison couldn’t quite fathom the idea of simply being happy. She was always striving for the next best thing, a trait she had learnt from Harold – and up until now she had always assumed this to be a good thing.

  “You seem so happy here,” she said while the two them had sat on the pier, their legs dangling off the side.

  “But I am.” He said. “Aren’t you happy?”

  “Oh. No. I mean, Yes of course I’m happy. I’m just not used to a life like this. Slow paced. It just makes me wonder, that’s all.”

  “We have our fair share of stresses and worries, as much as the next person. But there is definitely a sense of slowing things down here – the idea that life is too rushed and that each minute should be enjoyed. But hey, I’m sure you do that too, just in a different way.”

  She thought about that for a while, “Uh… yeah, maybe.” Things were getting a bit too deep for her, and she didn’t like the doubt that was starting to creep up in her mind. So she quickly changed the subject.

  “So, what exactly do you do for a living?”

  “I actually run a café in the main part of town. I took the day off today but it’s where you’d normally find me. It had always been my dream – to own a little shop of my own. I’m a big coffee snob, and if there was one thing that this place was missing was a good coffee shop. So I learnt as much as I could, got some amazing equipment and trained up a friend to become a barista, and I found myself a gorgeous spot in the middle of town. Lucky for me, it’s one of the only cafes around so business is always good, at any time of the year. I can hardly call it work to be honest. I pretty much spend my day socializing.”

  “I bet you know everyone’s business.”

  “Oh don’t you know it! I feel like people see me as a counselor. They all come into the shop and tell me what’s happening in their lives.”

  Alison giggled, “Well you’re lucky it’s a café and not a bar. There’s one thing hearing about people’s lives, but it’s another thing when drunk people are telling you.”

  “Yeah! I actually considered a bar, but the thought of staying up sober until the early hours of the night surrounded by drunk people did not seem pleasing to me.”

  “Uh… can I see your café?”

  “Of course! That’s actually where I’m taking you next! For some of the finest coffee around and the best carrot cake you’ve ever tasted.”

  “Oh but I’m from the city – a place that is known for its coffee. The cake, well, that part I’m sure I’ll enjoy. I don’t eat a lot of cake to be honest. Got to watch the figure.”

  Tristan looked at her and shook his head, “Crazy girl. Look at you. I could feed you cake for ten days solid and you’d still be tiny. Also, life is far too short not to enjoy a good slice every now and again. But as for the coffee – well, you’ll see, you’ll see.”

  Tristan hadn’t been lying. The coffee was one of the best she had tasted. She didn’t want to admit it to him but she knew the look on her face had said otherwise. He had also dished her up the biggest slice of cake she had ever seen which she surprised herself by f
inishing. If she was by herself she would’ve licked her lips – it was that good.

  Tristan’s café was gorgeous. When she had first arrived she was surprised by the name. The Island. “The Island?” she asked him. “Yeah, it’s what Harold calls this place. I kind of like it though. I know he didn’t mean it in a good way but I love the idea of being secluded at an island. I wanted to take something negative and turn it into a positive.”

  “Does Harold know about this place?” she had asked, admiring how much effort had gone into it. The décor was all brick wall and dimmed red lights – a small romantic spot that made you feel like you were in another place altogether.

  “No, he doesn’t. But I’m definitely going to show him while you are both here. I think he’ll like it. We didn’t have anything like this when we were growing up and I think it’s done the place a lot of good. It’s a tough thing to juggle really – you don’t want to change the place too much but you also want to stay ahead with the times.”

  “I think it’s beautiful.” And she meant it.

  Alison met a few of the locals who were all surprised and excited to find out that she was Harold’s wife. “Well aren’t you a pretty one,” one of the older woman had said to her, practically pulling at her cheeks, “I’m so glad that Harold has met someone as nice as you. He was always a grumpy one that, never satisfied with what was right in front of him. I hope he treats you well my dear. I can see you have a heart of gold.”

  Alison wasn’t sure how she felt about it all. Everyone had been incredibly nice to her but not all that nice about Harold – and it was hard to hear anything negative about him. She was so used to everyone always being in awe of him, jealous of everything he had.